Evaluation of Crocins in Cheeses Made with Saffron by UHPLC

Saffron is a widespread consumed spice with potential health promoting compounds. In dairy technologies it is often used to enhance color and flavor of cheeses, so it would be recommended to know the content of saffron functional compounds in cheese made with this spice, as they could still have potential bioactivity. For this purpose, an UHPLC (ultra high performance liquid chromatography) method was developed, with the aim of reducing analysis time and solvent consumption. A methanol:water solution (80:20 v/v) was used to extract saffron compounds from cheese with stirring for 1 h in the dark at room temperature, then the samples were centrifuged at 3500 rpm, for 5 min at 4 °C and the residues were extracted twice. A linear gradient elution of acetonitrile in water allowed to simultaneously determine picrocrocin and crocins in saffron in a short time (16 min), and allowed a quantitative determination of crocins in commercial cheeses.